The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-29
A ROMANCE IN TOBACCO.
And a Curious Story of the Customs
Regulations.

anu a OQTIOuS SlOTy VI IH6 SnobOn5
Regulations.
New York, Nov. 26.-Business was over
on the Stock Exchange for the day and sew
eral active operators. whose names are I'M
known to the general public, were discus
sing in Delmonico's the terror of the mar
ket. What they said about stocks was of
no earthly consequence to themselves or
anybody else; for if they knew anything of
the subject with which they were ostensibly
familiar they were not giving it away.
When it came to tobacco and liquor, how
ever, they were frank and authoritative in
their opinions One of the group played
cruel trick on his companions by inducing
them to smoke an all-tobacco cigarette of
the most exquisite flavor and then quietly
informing them that none of that kind
could be obtained i'll the city.
"Of course these were Struggled" he
fastened to admit: but that is not the
most discouraging feature of the case. |
do not know how they can be imported
There is pleasing romance suggested by
this tobacco. / never puff blue cloud
from this cigarette without seeing a sad,
dark face of dazzling beauty smiling at me
with her brilliant eyes aglow" 4 y
An empty ale bottle happened to be the
most handy means of bringing this bit of
sentimentalism to an untimely end, and the
speaker nearly swallowed his cigarette as
he tried vainly to save his hat from the
crushing blow.
"It's good story, though, and I'm going
| to tell il" he exclaimed as he iammed his
hat into shape again. "Scene, Mexico;
time, a few years ago. A wealthy and aristo-
cratic gentlemen had the ill-luck to lose his
| fortune and when he died from the effects
of his loss his widow found herself without
the means of living. She was young, hand
some and amiable, but she could not even
do plain sewing. Her pride excelled her
| beauty, and rather than depend upon others
she would have committed suicide There
was little strip of land saved from the
wreck of her husbands fortune on which a
fine tobacco grew. The old gentleman had
been in the habit of growing his own
smoke, and none of the tobacco had ever
been sold. His friends knew the flavor of
| that particular weed, however and they ad-
vised the widow to make cigarettes for pri-
vate sale. Every Mexican woman can roll
tobacco most divinely, and she accordingly
! adopted the suggestion. She has supported
herself ever since and these are some Of the
cigarettes she made. | bought them at the
rate of one Mexican dollar. or 75c. of our
money, for package of 150."
But why cannot they be importedn
asked an envious member of the group.
because she has romantic idea that she
will utilize the means at her disposal only
for her own support, and will not let any,
body assist her in the work. The patronage
of Mexican residents is enough to keep her
as busy as possible and she will not under
take to push her cigarettes into other mar
kets.n
And more than that" said another
broker, lit would be exceedingly difficult to
import cigars unless we were in the bust
ness The customs regulations are not only
severe but peculiar You cannot import in
quantities less than 10000. That is too
large an amount for private individual to
acquire. | am reminded of an instance
where a prominent New York Democrat
who had been in Mexico, was presented by
a friend he had made there with 1000 fine
cigars for his own use. He did not try to
smuggle them, but notified the customs Off
GERS at Ell Paso that he had dutiable articles
about him and wanted to know how much
he should pay for the cigars. They would
not let him pay anything, not because the
cigars were evidently for his own use, but
because there were 1900 of them. The
boxes were accordingly seized. The New
Yorker came home and wrote to the Treas
ury Department where he was personally
and favorably known, requesting the priv
ilege of paying duty on his 1000 cigars as if
there were 10, 900 of them. He explained
that they were gift and that he desired
for that reason alone to get them over the
border. After u delay of many days his let
ter was answered. 1t had been through the
circumlocution Office, and decision was
finally rendered that under the circum-
stances, as a special favor TO this prominent
Democrat, he would be permitted to pay
duty on 10000 cigars for the sake of re-
ceiving 1000, but it was not TO be looked
upon as precedent. So he finally got the
weeds at cost for the gift considerably
higher than he would have had TO pay for
the same number if he had bought them at
retail in this city"
Then the brokers changed the subject for
one notably less dry and went home reflect
ing on the greatness Of their native land.
| +. r. BURTON.